The Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC), together with our state partner, the Delaware Office of Early Learning (OEL), continues to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our community and our work.

As we've shared, we have suspended all activity related to Delaware Stars' assessment and verification. Star levels will not expire during this time, and we are committed to supporting both open Emergency Child Care Sites and temporarily closed programs.

Additionally, we want to clarify expectations for standards that have specific time requirements for verification, such as child observations, child assessment checkpoints, lesson plans, and family conferences. As a result of the coronavirus outbreak and Delaware's State of Emergency declaration, we understand that your current enrollment may look very different from the rest of your program year. Therefore, we will not consider this time period when looking at requirements for future Delaware Stars verification visits. For example, we will not look to see that you have completed the spring checkpoint in Teaching Strategies GOLD.

We are grateful for your commitment to continuing to strive to meet these standards that demonstrate best practice. Delaware Stars Technical Assistants are also available to support you in creating systems for what makes sense for your program at this time.

As we learn more about the next steps from the Governor's Office and the University of Delaware, we will be better able to communicate new timeframes for verification. We understand that programs will need both time and support before resuming assessment or verification visits.

Thank you for your ongoing dedication to care for and educate Delaware's youngest learners!